5 Things To Do When You Hate Your Job

I still remember the feeling now. The nausea in the pit of my stomach on Monday mornings and the dread that overwhelmed me on Sunday evening. The way those 5 long days would trudge painfully past and the weekend’s promised land would be gone in a flash.

I used to wonder when it would ever end. Does it ever get better when you hate your job? Would I ever find a new job that I liked?

Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months. Before I knew it, I had spent years working in jobs I hated.

Then life took hold of my apathy and delivered a devastating blow. I lost my larger-than-life father and my beloved sister to cancer within 3 months.

Bam.

Just like that. Gone.

As I came round from the shock, I saw the world with such a clarity of vision and suddenly everything made sense to me.

Life is far too short to be living in a state of stress, unhappiness and turmoil. We are supposed to be living vibrant, abundant, joyful lives that deeply fulfill us and anything less than that is not the life we were born to live.

We are supposed to wake up every morning excited about the day ahead of us and we are supposed to go to sleep at night with our hearts full of joyful love for our precious life.

I no longer work in a job I hate. I now do what I am truly passionate about:- blogging to inspire other to live the life they love, and life coaching to support people to make the changes they desire.

The bottom line is that, if you hate your job, it’s time for you to start following your passion and pursue a career you love.

So how did I get from a despairing 9-5 to my dream job?

1. IDENTIFY

Part of getting to where you want to go, is to know exactly what it looks like. Do you know what it is you would love to do?

Get a pen, paper and turn on your imagination. Now begin writing down everything and anything you would love to do for a living, if you knew nothing could ever stand in your way. This part is important.

So often we only allow ourselves to dream of having things we think we could achieve and therefore we limit ourselves unnecessarily. In this exercise, allow yourself to dream big and enjoy yourself!

2. SPECIFY

Now that you have identified the general areas of work that make you buzz with happiness, start to get specific about them.

Under each potential career (or perhaps you have chosen just one), write down as many details as you can e.g.

Is it a 9am-5pm or can you choose your hours?

Are you working alone or in a team?

Is it your own business or are you employed?

Where do you work? Abroad, at home, in an office?

What does your working environment feel like?

What is the salary/income?

Be as colourful as you can be in your description and keep dreaming big. The more time you spend creating this career in your mind, the closer you come to manifesting it.

3. RESEARCH

Now you have a few ideas of what you would love to do and have some clarity on the specifics of what would really float your boat, it is time to start dipping into the infinite resource of information on the World Wide Web.

This part can take some time, so be patient and enjoy the process of researching your dream careers.

When I started my online research, I didn’t even know where to start but I just kept googling different questions related to my passion and reading articles for hours. Eventually the right path for me to take became clear. Trust that it will for you too.

4. TAKE ACTION

It is terribly easy to allow ourselves to procrastinate instead of taking action. Fear of money, fear of the unknown, fear of failure all rear their ugly heads and we find ourselves stuck. This is normal, however the only thing for it is to find the courage within ourselves and move forward.

You need to ask yourself, ‘do I really want to stay stuck where I am’?

It’s not about going from the job you hate to one you love in a day. It’s about simply taking the first step. I took hundreds of little steps to get to where I am now and each one took time.

So what first, simple step could you take to pursuing your dream a career?

5. BELIEVE

In order to see this through, you have to have faith. You have to believe in yourself and your dream.

If deep down you don’t really believe that you can have a joyful career, then it will never happen for you. Nothing can sabotage our happiness quite like those negative thoughts that cruise through our minds.

Each time a thought arises that says ‘you can’t do it’ or ‘you will fail’, choose to believe something different:- that you can and will succeed. Form a positive belief system and be regimented in your choice to believe that you can do it.

5. DON’T GIVE UP

Following your dream career can be tough, I won’t lie. On my own journey, I have had people send me hate mail, faced rejection more times than I want to remember and have despaired that what I do is pointless.

There are obstacles on this path, but I would never go back to the jobs I hated for all the world. The satisfaction I feel from living my purpose far outweighs all the challenges. Moreover, I see every obstacle now as an opportunity for me to grow, learn and expand to my full potential.

The happiest, most successful career people all say that they owe their success to one thing:- no matter how many times they failed or fell down, they kept getting back up and trying again.

YOUR DREAM CAREER

No matter what you think holds you back, you can have an amazing career that brings you abundant joy and deep fulfillment. You have all the tools available to you already in order to make it happen. Dream, believe, trust and be courageous!

Don’t you think you deserve it?

———

Jessica Heslop is a student of A Course In Miracles. She is the founder of Live The Life You Love www.ilivethelifeilove.com which provides inspiration and tools that support people to create the life they deserve:- a life filled with authenticity, abundance, infinite love and joy.